Shannon Brown, 17, Killed, Two Others Wounded in Shootings in Chicago’s South Side

Once again we hear of another youth being fatally wounded by the escalating gun violence. This time Shannon Brown, a 17-year-old is dead after being shot in the abdomen in an alley near his Far South Side home Monday night in the Far South Side’s Roseland community. Police believe the shooting might be gang-related. In other words, most likely black-on-black crime.

Brown, of the 100 block of West 103rd Place, was pronounced dead at 2:18 a.m. at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office. Brown was shot in an alley at the 100 block of West 103rd Place about 10:45 p.m., Calumet District police said. The medical examiner’s office said the shooting happened at the 200 block of West 103rd Street. According to police reports, the shooter exited a gangway and fired a handgun before fleeing west on 103rd Street.

In a separate incident, a male juvenile is in police custody for allegedly shooting two teens, 16 and 18, in a reported gang-related attack Monday night in the Southwest Side’s Chicago Lawn neighborhood. The suspect may be charged as an adult, Wentworth Area police said.Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man were shot about 8:10 p.m. in the 3200 block of West 65th Place.

For what it is worth, this reminds me of the movies that show heavy gunfire in the Wild West, only that was eons ago. We are living in modern times. This is a shame. I am imploring our elected officials to take note of what is going on in Chicago, Los Angeles and other cities. We cannot continue losing our children to a hail of gun fire. It is painfully obvious if this violence was occurring in the wealthy suburbs, they would have been addressed a long time ago. The message that I am hearing is that the powers that be really don’t care if the inner city residents harm and kill one another. They just don’t matter. To the parents of these thugs, take your role seriously and stop raising these kids that run the streets terrorizing people. We are fighting a war in Iraq, can turn our attention to the home-grown terrorism that these gangs inflict on the communities? This is ridiculous and a travesty. Just my thoughts, you be the judge……